Delta County Historical Archives photo A young man collects maple sap the old fashioned way.

ESCANABA — The maple tree drips as the clock ticks — and both are pure music in the Northwoods.

As we patiently wait for spring like weather, green grass and colorful flowers, the rising sap in the maples promises that sweet things are to come.

Good things come to those who wait. That’s especially true in Upper Michigan. Tapping the maple trees is a centuries-old tradition. Early native people were boiling sap and rendering maple sugar hundreds of years ago.

Yooper pioneers celebrated the season. Sugaring was a cure for cabin fever.

Families and neighbors would gather from miles around. Lots of helping hands were needed for drilling, tapping, hauling pails and boiling gallons and gallons of sap.

Then there was time for fun, like some good food, music and dancing.

The hardwoods around our family camp were tapped for many years by my great uncle and others.

As the crusty snow recedes, you can often find sugaring signs from decades ago. A tap scar on a piece of maple firewood or a rusty bucket are signs that the forest shared its sweetness.

Watching the sap drip and hearing the clock tick are peaceful things.

The slow erosion of the snow and ice brightens our days. Even the squirrels are berserk now, scampering about from tree to tree stealing a taste of the sap.

It is the mating season for many of the small wild mammals. A giddy feeling is in the air. The summer birds come back like clockwork. Bird songs again fill the forest.

Off on a distant balsam ridge, a grouse starts drumming.

Sap season makes a person reminisce. You can almost hear the laughter of great-grandparents on the warm spring wind. As you stroll through the hardwoods, you can almost hear the hiss of steam and smell the smoke of years long gone.

Some of the old time tools are still in the shed.

Sap season makes a person feel young again. A new growing season is about to begin. There is rebirth in the Northwoods. Something about getting outdoors and getting your boots muddy makes you feel at least ten years younger.

Modern day maple tree tapping is quite different from the olden days. Plastic bags and plastic pipe lines are used to collect the sap. But the smells and the feelings of the sugaring season remain the same.

Take time to listen to the sap rising even if you don’t tap the trees. Early spring time is an awesome time to be outdoors.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.